"The Barrier World" - Homebrew setting looking for a fresh set of eyes


Homebrew and House Rules

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Liberty's Edge

Ciaran Barnes wrote:

I don't claim to have a good idea on balancing prestige classes, but I feel like a full BAB, two good saves, full spell casting, and class features every level is too much

Special: The requirement is fine, but I wonder what happens to a queen's guard who renounces his vows? Can he still advance in the class? Does he lose abilities? This information should be detailed at the end of the class, like the paladin.

Skills: 3 + Int? Just pick 2 or 4.

Defenders Charge: what kind of action is it to declare a charge? Since there is no entry requirement for this class to be a magus, I would remove the thingy about spending arcane points. I would move the ability to the end of the paragraph and do something so any caster can use it. For example:

Defender's Charge: A queen's guard is devoted to protecting those under her care. She can declare a creature as her charge as a swift action. The charge gains a +1 to AC as long as the queen's guard is adjacent to it. The queen's guard also gains a +1 bonus to weapon damage rolls and rolls to overcome spell resistance against creatures who threaten her charge. These bonuses increase by 1 at 3rd level and every two levels thereafter. Once per day, she can cast a spell with a range of personal on her charge.

Whats the difference between a bonus feat and a free feat?

Righty-o, switched it up to 2+int, declared the whole Charge thing a free-action (may be bumped to Move) and made Fort the "good" save.

I may actually just use your version of the spell bit for Defender's Charge.

The only difference I can think of is that Bonus feats are like "Here's a pool of feats, pick the one you want" whereas a Free feat is like "Here, have a feat. Don't worry, we picked it out for you". I'll probably change the "Free Feat" to simply "Bodyguard".


If you increease the activation time to a move action, I would consider changing the level 1 bonus to +2, but change the way it stacks from multiple sources.

And yes, change the name of the feature to Bodyguard.


Silus wrote:


Lagiacrus (Colossal (Long) aquatic lightning dragon...thing)

This monster can be represented as a Sea Serpent with the half-dragon template (CR 14)

Dark Archive

Sauce987654321 wrote:
Silus wrote:


Lagiacrus (Colossal (Long) aquatic lightning dragon...thing)
This monster can be represented as a Sea Serpent with the half-dragon template (CR 14)

Perhaps with wings swapped out for something.

Liberty's Edge

Cr500cricket wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Silus wrote:


Lagiacrus (Colossal (Long) aquatic lightning dragon...thing)
This monster can be represented as a Sea Serpent with the half-dragon template (CR 14)
Perhaps with wings swapped out for something.

Suppose I could use that as a basis then just tweak as needed.

Liberty's Edge

Soooo yeah, apex predator is up and finished for the Poisoned Lands.

Blightning Wolf, CR17:

XP 102,400
N Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +7; Senses Darkvision, Scent; Perception +9
DEFENSE

AC 33, touch 10, flat-footed 28 (+3 dex, +23 natural, -4 size, +1 Dodge)(+4 vs AoO)
hp 265 (23d10+138)
Fort +26, Ref +23, Will +16
Immune Electricity
Weaknesses vulnerability to cold
OFFENSE

Speed 60 ft.
Melee 1 Bite +31 (2d8+12 plus trip), 2 Claws +31 (2d6+12 plus grab), 1 Tail Slap +29 (2d8+12)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft
Special Attack: Breath Weapon, Electrical Discharge, Pounce, Rake (2 claws +31, 2d6+12), Swallow Whole (2d6+18 plus 3d8 electricity, AC 21, 26 hp), Trample (2d6+18, DC 33)
STATISTICS

Str 34, Dex 17, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +23; CMB +39; CMD 54 (58 vs trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Dodge, Mobility, Wind Stance, Lightning Stance, Spring Attack, Multiattack, Stealthy, Nightstalker, Ability Focus (Breath Weapon), Ability Focus (Electrical Discharge), Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +16, Perception +9, Stealth +16, Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking by scent
ECOLOGY

Environment The Poisoned Lands
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure None (Hide/chitin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (EX): 120 ft. line, DC 23, 16d8 electricity, every 2d4 rounds
Electrical Discharge (EX):15 ft. burst, DC 23, 16d8 electricity
Lightning Stance: If you take two actions to move or a withdraw action in a turn, you gain 50% concealment for 1 round.
Wind Stance: If you move more than 5 feet this turn, you gain 20% concealment for 1 round against ranged attacks.
Nightstalker: While you are in areas of shadowy illumination or natural darkness, you ignore all size penalties to Stealth checks and instead gain a +2 bonus to Stealth checks.

The creatures known as "Blightning Wolves" are stabilized mutations that have cropped up in the last several hundred years in the section of the world known as The Poisoned Lands. While evolution and genetic mutation does take hundreds of thousands of years, Blightning Wolves have had the benefit of rampant magic and mutagenic radiation to thank for their rapid mutation and evolution.

Sizes range from ~44 ft upwards to ~67ft from the tips of their horned heads to the ends of their spiked, club-like tails, standing between 22-34ft at the shoulder. They only appear to be wolves in the barest of senses, sharing a handful of traits with canines. The rest however seems more akin to dragons and insects. Claws like butcher knives, fangs like daggers and chitinous armor plating covering it's front and hind legs, shoulders, back, tail and head. As tough as it would appear, the Blightning Wolf's main power lies in the cone-shaped protrusions that, when not active, lie flat along its back, covered by whitish-grey fur. These protrusions act as biological capacitors, allowing the Wolf to generate several electrical effects, ranging from lines of lightning to explosive area of effect blasts. These abilities have helped set up the Blightning Wolf as a top tier apex predator in the Poisoned Lands, a land that is rife with robots, mutants and massive vermin.

Typically a solitary creature, Blightning Wolves have been known to travel with a breeding mate from time to time. No nests or dens have ever been found, though not many people have bothered searching for one, as doing so would undoubtably attract unwanted attention. Blightning Wolves are also extreme omnivores, feasting of meat, plant, insect and even varieties of robot they bring down. How they gain sustenance from mechanical constructs is still unknown.

While difficult as hell to kill, due to their speed and durability, they are in fact killable and their hide and chitinous plating makes excellent light weight, electric resistant armor. Finding someone to work the material however is difficult (though not impossible in the right locations).

Blightning Wolf Hide: Technically a combination of hide, fur and chiton, the body of a Blightning Wolf can be used to make both armor and weapons that share its electrical resistances and even some of its electrical output. Armor made of the hide is treated as "Druid friendly", and as such may be turned into items such as Full Plate Mail and other typically metal items. In addition, armor comes with Electric Resistance of 10, 15 and 20 for Light, Medium and Heavy armor, and Shields receive Electric Resistance 5. Weapons made of the chiton receive an innate, non-magical +1d4 Electric damage that stacks with magical effects. All items made of a Blightning Wolf's hide and chiton weight 20% less than average. A typical Blightning Wolf corpse can make roughly (1d4 weapons or 1d6 light weapons) and (3 suits of medium Light armor, 2 suits of medium Medium armor, or 1 suit of medium Heavy armor). As it is hard to obtain, purchasing items made of Blightning Wolf cost 250% the cost of a Masterwork quality item of the same type. Blightning Wolf equipment always counts as Masterwork.

Apologies for the terribad formatting.


Nice.

Seems weak for a CR 17, but my metrics on that are horribly skewed by playing with a particularly brutal DM, so I'm probably wrong.

Also, those skills seem low for a critter with that many hit dice.

My first thought is that anything so electrical its parts keep a self-perpetuating charge post-mortem should have constant electrical field. One of those "hurts you if you hit it" jobs that zaps melee attackers and possibly hurts them with spikes them too. Lower damage and save DC.

Finally, perhaps its bones contain aluminum or mithral or something that can be smelted out of them by someone with the know-how.

That's all I can think of to add, it's a very nice monster.

Liberty's Edge

Welp, the first version of the Player's Guide is more or less done.

Can be found here.

Sczarni

Nice. I received another vision, and it's harpies, drugs, rock, roll and Poisoned Lands all over. With some Top Gun in it (Disclaimer: Does not include Tom Cruise.) Basically a bunch of adrenaline junkie harpies involved in narcotics smuggling and 'daredeviling' as in jumping from buildings and being the last one to start flying before they hit the ground, probably with a more level-headed leader, using the drug trade to form a new harpy nation? Or simply Heaven's Harpies, biker gangs with mohawks, leather outfits and habits of breaking bars and selling drugs? Who knows?

Also, RACIAL TRAITS.

Alternative Racial Traits:

Daredevil: Some Harpies prefer fast moving lightning attacks rather than caution and stealth. These 'daredevils' have a fly speed of 50 feet with average maneuvrability. This ability replaces Skill Bonus (due to having bonus by faster speed) and darkvision. They have low-light vision instead. Basically speed freaks. May want to remove something else as well.

Wrack: Some Harpies, particularly ones in the Poisoned Lands, prefer more... physical entertainment than music. They have a +4 on Fortitude saves to avoid disease, addiction and poison, and (kind of controversial here, I know. May also be too powerful) can mimic the effects of haste for 1 round per character level. These rounds don't need to be consecutive, but must be spend in 1 round increments. After coming out of the haste effect, the harpy is fatigued for twice the number of rounds spent in haste. In addition, the drugs weaken their nails and teeth, disabling the possibility to use their talons, for they are too fragile. This racial trait replaces Musically Inclined and Natural Attack. Yes. I gave people coke as a racial ability. Wouldn't you?

Social Butterfly: Some harpies, especially ones raised in big cities, don't need to be as agile in the air or on the ground. They have brightly coloured feathers that captivates onlookers. These social butterflies have a +2 to Perform(acting), +2 to Diplomacy and +2 to Bluff and always treat these skills as class skills. However, they are sometimes too bright, imposing a -2 penalty to Stealth. This racial trait replaces Skilled. Why not have some cagebirds as well? Lots of colours, literally 'a little bird told me'

Wing Buffet: Harpies sometimes grow too big to reasonably fly or suffer some debilitating blow to their wings. However, some of them learn to adapt. These Harpies only have a fly speed of 15 feet and can only fly for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution before they have to start making Fort Saves in order to avoid fatigue. However, they gain 2 wing attacks for 1d6 damage and can use the Dirty Trick maneuver at a range of 10ft + their BAB (rounded down). This replaces the normal Flight, Light as a Feather and Natural Attack. I like the idea of big, burly harpies that use natural attacks and wing buffets instead of fly-by attacks. The Dirty Trick was just a think that just popped up at the last minute, and the 10ft + BAB is to prevent those pesky 3/4 BAB classes from going on fighter turf.

I had a weird inspiration, tell me if you like those. Last one was inspired by big wings making big gusts of sand/dirt/rice/cogs/stirges, and wasn't exactly balanced.


Geistwood breaks the magic item economy at higher levels pretty badly, man. I would consider radically changing its rules.

Maybe give geistwood armor and weapons some kind of special (and good) ghost-wood-only enchantment? I dunno. It is just plain bananas as it stands.

I can give more alternate suggestions if you don't like that last one.

Liberty's Edge

The Lion Cleric wrote:

Nice. I received another vision, and it's harpies, drugs, rock, roll and Poisoned Lands all over. With some Top Gun in it (Disclaimer: Does not include Tom Cruise.) Basically a bunch of adrenaline junkie harpies involved in narcotics smuggling and 'daredeviling' as in jumping from buildings and being the last one to start flying before they hit the ground, probably with a more level-headed leader, using the drug trade to form a new harpy nation? Or simply Heaven's Harpies, biker gangs with mohawks, leather outfits and habits of breaking bars and selling drugs? Who knows?

Also, RACIAL TRAITS.

Alternative Racial Traits:

Daredevil: Some Harpies prefer fast moving lightning attacks rather than caution and stealth. These 'daredevils' have a fly speed of 50 feet with average maneuvrability. This ability replaces Skill Bonus (due to having bonus by faster speed) and darkvision. They have low-light vision instead. Basically speed freaks. May want to remove something else as well.

Wrack: Some Harpies, particularly ones in the Poisoned Lands, prefer more... physical entertainment than music. They have a +4 on Fortitude saves to avoid disease, addiction and poison, and (kind of controversial here, I know. May also be too powerful) can mimic the effects of haste for 1 round per character level. These rounds don't need to be consecutive, but must be spend in 1 round increments. After coming out of the haste effect, the harpy is fatigued for twice the number of rounds spent in haste. In addition, the drugs weaken their nails and teeth, disabling the possibility to use their talons, for they are too fragile. This racial trait replaces Musically Inclined and Natural Attack. Yes. I gave people coke as a racial ability. Wouldn't you?

Social Butterfly: Some harpies, especially ones raised in big cities, don't need to be as agile in the air or on the ground. They have brightly coloured feathers that captivates onlookers. These social butterflies have a +2 to Perform(acting), +2 to Diplomacy...

Haha, I do believe I shall run with these traits. I'll save'em somewhere and input them into the next version of the Player's Guide.

Excaliburproxy wrote:

Geistwood breaks the magic item economy at higher levels pretty badly, man. I would consider radically changing its rules.

Maybe give geistwood armor and weapons some kind of special (and good) ghost-wood-only enchantment? I dunno. It is just plain bananas as it stands.

I can give more alternate suggestions if you don't like that last one.

I was actually going to add in a material called Ghost Stone from deep within the Geistwood prison that, if you can lug out a hunk large enough to make a (blunt) weapon with, and get it to someone that can craft using it, it'll act as Ghost Touch vs Incorporeal creatures, maybe so many times per day. EDIT Would also like to point out that you have to go get the material yourself, because possibly haunted dwarven prisons filled with nightmarish whatnots isn't a trip people usually make.

Maybe have Geistwood discount the initial +1 enchant as the innate magic gives enchanting a small boost? I'm always up for suggestions.


I think you would have a lot less trouble on your hands if you just made it easier to craft magic items faster rather than cheaper. Like: maybe geistwood allows you to craft a magic item (or improve and existing geistwood magic item) in half the time rather than half the price.

As it stands, there is essentially no reason to own anything aside from geistwood gear at higher levels. It is just so much cheaper than owning full price normal weapons and armor.

I think the +1 and the ghost touch are both bad ideas because those enhancement change the price of the gear quadratically rather than linearly. If you are going to have the ghost stone weapons, I would essentially urge you to make it essentially impossible to enchant so it would end up being mostly used for ammo or backup weapons.


Wow. I just noticed that that the lesser centaur and barrier orc have identical ability score modifiers. Is that a problem?

Liberty's Edge

Excaliburproxy wrote:

I think you would have a lot less trouble on your hands if you just made it easier to craft magic items faster rather than cheaper. Like: maybe geistwood allows you to craft a magic item (or improve and existing geistwood magic item) in half the time rather than half the price.

As it stands, there is essentially no reason to own anything aside from geistwood gear at higher levels. It is just so much cheaper than owning full price normal weapons and armor.

I think the +1 and the ghost touch are both bad ideas because those enhancement change the price of the gear quadratically rather than linearly. If you are going to have the ghost stone weapons, I would essentially urge you to make it essentially impossible to enchant so it would end up being mostly used for ammo or backup weapons.

Ok, gonna use the less crafting time (Setting at 1/2 the time) as the base until tests are done. Gonna keep the "counts as magic for DR" thing though. Any suggestions on price though? Currently set at x4 the base cost of the MW quality of the item.

As for the stone, I see your point, but what about it taking a lot more power to override the innate enchantment? Like whereas Cold Iron is x2 the cost, Ghost Stone is like x3 or even x4, where it can be enchanted, but it's just unreasonable to do so.

Ciaran Barnes wrote:
Wow. I just noticed that that the lesser centaur and barrier orc have identical ability score modifiers. Is that a problem?

I don't think so, though if you've any suggestions on alternate ability scores I'm willing to change it.

Edit: Possibly -Charisma for Orcs for their gruff nature?


Either ability score could be rationalized. Your call. I should point out though that the barrier Orc you have in the doc is 11 RP instead of 10. Double check the PM I sent you. Between the first and second draft they gained the intimidate bonus and lost the improved base speed.


Silus wrote:
Excaliburproxy wrote:

I think you would have a lot less trouble on your hands if you just made it easier to craft magic items faster rather than cheaper. Like: maybe geistwood allows you to craft a magic item (or improve and existing geistwood magic item) in half the time rather than half the price.

As it stands, there is essentially no reason to own anything aside from geistwood gear at higher levels. It is just so much cheaper than owning full price normal weapons and armor.

I think the +1 and the ghost touch are both bad ideas because those enhancement change the price of the gear quadratically rather than linearly. If you are going to have the ghost stone weapons, I would essentially urge you to make it essentially impossible to enchant so it would end up being mostly used for ammo or backup weapons.

Ok, gonna use the less crafting time (Setting at 1/2 the time) as the base until tests are done. Gonna keep the "counts as magic for DR" thing though. Any suggestions on price though? Currently set at x4 the base cost of the MW quality of the item.

As for the stone, I see your point, but what about it taking a lot more power to override the innate enchantment? Like whereas Cold Iron is x2 the cost, Ghost Stone is like x3 or even x4, where it can be enchanted, but it's just unreasonable to do so.

I think your ghost stone plan is more or less just fine.

Weapon: +1k
Armor Light (or shield): +1k
Armor Medium: +1.5k
Armor Heavy (or tower shield): +2k

Special Enchantment ideas for weapons (which helps justify its cost more):
Vampiric Force(+2k): 3 times per day before an attack roll is made, you may choose to make an attack deal extra 2d6 points of damage and heal by the same amount. If the attack misses then the use of this ability is wasted.
Enhancement Focus (+1 equivalent enhancement): Any ability that enhances the enchantments on this weapon (such as the magus's arcane pool or the paladin's divine bond with her weapon) increases this type of weapon's effective enhancement bonus of the weapon by an additional +2. The straight enhancement bonus may not exceed +5.
Deep Enhancement Focus (+2 equivalent enhancement): Any ability that enhances the enchantments on this weapon (such as the magus's arcane pool or the paladin's divine bond with her weapon) increases this type of weapon's effective enhancement bonus of the weapon by an additional +4. An Enhancement Focus weapon may be upgraded to a Deep Enhancement Focus weapon paying normal costs. The straight enhancement bonus may not exceed +5.

Special Enchantment ideas for armor (which helps justify its cost more):
Ghost Shield (+1k): This armor's enhancement bonus to armor class applies to touch AC against the touch attacks of incorporeal undead.

Sczarni

Just had a question. If paladins are allowed in The Barrier World, which is reasonable, and as other divine classes take their power from The Barrier, how do you determine if the Paladin falls?

I don't like it when people force paladins to fall, just that "Sentient Divine power gives you superpowers" is kind of crucual to the class.

Just laying my thoughts out.

EDIT: I also noticed that there are lots of Paladins in Notable NPCs, yet I couldn't any references as to HOW are they Paladins?

Liberty's Edge

The Lion Cleric wrote:

Just had a question. If paladins are allowed in The Barrier World, which is reasonable, and as other divine classes take their power from The Barrier, how do you determine if the Paladin falls?

I don't like it when people force paladins to fall, just that "Sentient Divine power gives you superpowers" is kind of crucual to the class.

Just laying my thoughts out.

EDIT: I also noticed that there are lots of Paladins in Notable NPCs, yet I couldn't any references as to HOW are they Paladins?

The short "Holy crap how do I explain this properly?" answer is that it's like a Cavalier taken to the Nth degree. They operate on a set code (the default being the general LG mentality) and more or less swear loyalty to that set of ideals. If they violate that code, they risk falling. The rules for Paladins on the Barrier World are a bit more flexible, allowing for Paladins of other Alignments, so long as they have a strict code and follow it. A little fudging is allowed from time to time. A LG Paladin, in times of dire need (Like "The bomb will go off in 20 minutes if we don't interrogate this guy harder to get the info" kind of thing) may do a non-LG action so long as, in the context of the situation, it is needed (Like harsh interrogation for example). However constant abuse will result in falling and losing your power.

As for how they are Paladins, possibly something like a pact with the power of the Barrier to uphold a set of ideals?

*Shrugs* Just spitballing ideas.


If you allow mutations, can you have the goblinoids led by mutants?
I'm going to continue to keep expanding Leveled Mutations, and I'm thinking of letting characters take an extra mutation if they take a defect.

Liberty's Edge

Goth Guru wrote:

If you allow mutations, can you have the goblinoids led by mutants?

I'm going to continue to keep expanding Leveled Mutations, and I'm thinking of letting characters take an extra mutation if they take a defect.

Well honestly there's no goblins currently, but I don't see why the wouldn't be led by mutants.

And I'd personally be on board with the mutation-for-a-defect idea for mutations.

Liberty's Edge

Right, so I've been expanding on Harpies a little bit, and am working on a new location called the Mana Blight (If you've played Borderlands 2, imagine the Eridium Blight, but with raw liquid magic instead of lava and Eridium). Raw, Primal Magic, Spellblights, Mana Elementals, Mana Oozes, magic powered undead and constructs, drugs that boost spellcasting, all that jazz. All happened because a Dwarven weapons factory producing mana powered WMDs got hit during the war and sort of...exploded.

Harpy tribes are currently being broken up as so (Name, location and the class that is most prevalent in the tribe):

Copper Feathers: Gear Wastes, Rangers
Spell Scars: Mana Blight, Sorcerers
Ghost Wings: Geistwood, Rogues
Moon Dancers: Principality of the Moon, Oracles
War Birds: Poisoned Lands, Barbarians
Ice Talons: Frozen Wilds, Rangers
The Warped: Markibyr, Alchemists
Emerald Plumes: Broken Isles, Druid/Witch
Songbirds: Queen's Lands, Bards
Ruin Divers: Southern Jungles, Monks

Shadow Lodge

Well, here is a brand spankin' new race me and Silus worked on: Domestic Gnolls.

Domestic Gnoll Characters (10 RP)

+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Str: Domestic gnolls are nimble and observant, but are not physically imposing.

Small: Domestic gnolls are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a -1 penalty to their CMD and combat maneuver checks, and a +4 size bonus to their stealth checks.

Normal Speed: Domestic gnolls are quick for their size, have a base speed of 30 feet.

Low-Light Vision: Domestic gnolls can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Cornered Fury: Domestic gnolls may primarily urban, but they will fight to protect their homes. Domestic Gnolls at half hit points or fewer and has no conscious allies within 30 feet, they gain a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls and to Armor Class.

Lucky: Domestic gnolls tend to be unnaturally fortunate. They gain a +1 racial bonus to all saving throws.

Domesticated: Domestic gnolls recieve a +2 racial bonus on a Craft or Profession skill of their choice.

Urban: Domestic gnolls recieve a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks made to gather information and Sense Motive checks made to get a hunch about a social situation.

Languages: Domestic gnolls begin play speaking Common and Gnoll. Domestic gnolls with high intelligence scores can learn any language barring secret languages.

Liberty's Edge

Race concept for "Mana Wrights", magic saturated quasi-undead from the Mana Blight.

Half-Undead (5RP)

  • Half-undead have the darkvision 60 feet racial trait.
  • Half-undead gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects.
  • Half-undead take no penalties from energy-draining effects, though they can still be killed if they accrue more negative levels than they have Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels they've gained are removed without any additional saving throws.
  • Half-undead creatures are harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy. A half-undead creature with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality.

    Medium (0RP)
    Normal Speed (0RP)
    Standard Ability Score (0RP)

  • +2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis
    Standard Language (0RP)
    Spell Resistance, Greater (3RP)
  • SR = 11+Character Level
    Skill Training (1RP)
  • Knowledge: Arcana & Spellcraft are Class Skills
    Constant Spell-Like Divination (3 RP)
  • Members of this race can use Detect Magic as a constant spell-like ability (the caster level is equal to the user's character level)

    12RP total

  • Sczarni

    Sounds quite nice. I am about to start developing a new setting for a game and was looking at the number of races I may include, may even put some of them in. Until then, writing NPC resumes it is!

    PS: Is the Player Guide getting updated? Also, should I go and check the GitP forums as well?

    Shadow Lodge

    Yes, it is getting updated, I have editing access now. I added a nifty little section on languages I am rather proud of:

    Languages of the
    Barrier World

    The amount of communication that was prevalent before the Barrier was created means that there are few regional languages, and that most racial languages are similar all over the world. Some explorers were surprised to travel to other continents, across vast oceans to find that the locals spoke virtually the same language as them. Despite this, the multitude of civilized races ensure that many languages thrive.

    Common: Also known as “The Queen’s Common”, since it appears to have originated in the lands under the control of the Queen as an evolution of the most common language spoken before the Barrier overturned civilization.

    Elven: Spoken by Elves and Drow, the different dialects are very similar due to elves not changing it over their long lifespans. The tone of voice is important, as some words have subtle differences depending on how they are pronounced.

    Dwarven: Possessing many words to describe machinery and engineering concepts, Dwarven is the language of choice for those wishing to create complex blueprints.

    Halfling: While at first this would appear to be a distant dialect of Common, a true understanding of the language shows that this tongue predates modern Common, and even High Lycan.

    Gnome/Gnomish: As an evolution of Halfling and Dwarven, Gnome is spoken much more quickly than either of its parent languages, at a much more cantering pace.

    Orc: A guttural language, being spoken by anyone without tusks ensures a speech impediment. It also utilizes some elements of a sign language.

    Gnoll: Disparagingly known as ‘Yip-Yip’ to prejudiced humanoids, this language sounds difficult to emulate, mostly consisting of yips, barks, and growls, it is actually very easy to replicate and understand. It has two primary dialects, spoken by wild gnolls and domestic gnolls.

    Undercommon: While the most prominent speakers of Undercommon are the Drow, any groups that live primarily underground speak Undercommon instead of normal Common. It seems to be a mix of the drow dialect of Elven and Common, with elements from Dwarven. Has many words to describe different types of caves; spelunkers prefer to write their maps in Undercommon.

    Harpy: The tongue of the Harpies is one of the most difficult languages for non-harpies to speak, relying on pitch, tone, and body language. It is very sing-song in composition. Non-harpies get a -2 penalty to Linguistics to understand Harpy.

    Centaur: Distantly related to Halfling, this language seems to have a lot more modern concepts than other languages.

    Sylvan: Primarily spoken by druids and gnomes, this language is common anywhere nature is prominent. The most prominent area where it is in use is in Calastiss.

    High Lycan: Primarily used by the upper class among the Principality, High Lycan is actually a very near to Common that was spoken before the Barrier, but with several animalistic elements added. Creatures that speak Common get a +4 bonus to Linguistics to understand High Lycan, and vice versa.

    Laquetan: Considered a dead language in most of the world, many pre-barrier documents pertaining to arcane research matter is written in Laquetan. The only region that it is still spoken is the Mana Blight, as well as by arcane casters. Laquetan replaces Draconic in the Wizard’s Bonus Languages class ability.

    Oh yes, and wild gnolls are a thing now.

    Liberty's Edge

    The Lion Cleric wrote:


    PS: Is the Player Guide getting updated? Also, should I go and check the GitP forums as well?

    I think the GitP forum thread is pretty much dead at this point. I'm likely going to start up another thread here with a link to the Player's Guide in the OP and a "Too be added to" doc to catalogue all of the stuff that has yet to be added to the guide properly.

    Sczarni

    Oh my Dayum, LANGUAGES! Thinking about the Poisoned Lands, I am thinking about one of those optimized for murderhoboing alchemist, obsessed with either spreading the radiation and mutation everywhere under the Barrier, or simply wanting to create the perfect, stable mutation. Must have every single one of the deforming discoveries, probably with chameleon mutagen and breath weapon bomb to create a single madman, banished from even the Drow lands for being too extreme and taking science too far. Their words, not mine.

    I was thinking something like Beastmorph/Vivisectionist, because that's the most bestial thing I can think of.

    Combining ALL the discoveries that change your shape somehow, and you end up with something that even the Alien Queen from Alien finds too disturbing.

    Imagine, you're kicking back, almost next to New Providence, your party is slightly ahead, since you spotted a shiny thing in a puddle. You kneel down to take it. The end of your eye catches something the colour of pale, malnutritioned flesh near the bushes.

    You take your shiny new necklace (Heh, it has weird writing on it, should bring it to Bill, old kook is always talking about the 'Pre-Barrier World' and whatnot.), and head up to town, thinking, 'Heh, no mutant is smart enough to bypass Bill's traps. Bastard keeps asking me for live ones just so he can test the bloody things.' You catch another glimpse of the pale thing as you head up the cable lift, going for a quick drink under the table before you're doing guard duty tonight, graveyard shift.

    As you sit on the tower, making the rounds, it's your time to take a short break for a smoke and some food. You position yourself, so you can see to the west, knowing that the new minefield was laid today to your back. Even if it wasnt, nothing can climb that building without the lift, even the damn harpies stop midway to take a break. You finish your hotworg and suddently something grabs you and holds you in place. You are turned almost like clockwork, feeling more limbs than that time you fell into that pit with those spiders.

    The thing looks mutated to no end, uneven limbs going from where there shouldn't be limbs, tentacles slithering around the broken, clawed humanoid hands. Under what was probably once hair, four eyes look over the snake-like nose and a maw that looks like it belongs to a damn shark. The thing jams something in your neck, and as the darkness falls and you hear the noise of wings, it speaks, in a voice almost unnaturally clear and human. "What a fine specimen you are, my friend."

    Also, I got carried away.

    PS: I can stat something up, depending on what powerlevel you'd like it to be.

    PPS: Is there a chat where people are discussing this? PMs?

    Liberty's Edge

    The Lion Cleric wrote:
    PPS: Is there a chat where people are discussing this? PMs?

    Well me and Ninjaxenomorph are chatting on Skype about it from time to time, I suppose we could set up a thing for specifically talking about and working on the setting.

    Liberty's Edge

    NEW THREAD IS UP WITH THE GOOGLE DOCS IN THE OP.

    So yeah, please those interested migrate over there.


    Edit: Imma put this in the new thread, and maybe learn to not take so long writing stuff.

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